Impel Down
Impel Down, also known as The Great Underwater Prison the gallifreyian maximum-security prison for the most dangerous criminals. Entrance: Because of its brutal nature and being renowned for being inescapable, almost no person wishes to ever go there. Usually, Impel Down is a hell-fortress with maximum defenses, making intrusion and breaking-out by criminals impossible. However, Anthony made the record of being the first to break-in, tarnishing that perfect record. Arrival and Sterilisation: When prisoners arrive in Impel Down, they are put in boiling water to disinfect and sterilise them. This is ritualistically referred to as "baptising" them. While most have screamed in pain due to the extreme heat, only a few prisoners have been known to take the sterilisation without flinching even one bit. Level Assignment and Torture: After sterilisation and a change of clothing, the prisoners are then placed in one of the six known levels of Impel Down, based on their crimes and strength. The more heinous or powerful a prisoner is, the lower the level in Impel they will be placed. From then on, the prisoners are tortured everyday in various ways, depending on their assigned levels, with most of them supposedly having no chance of ever leaving alive. General Layout: Impel Down is a large submerged tower-like structure whose foundation is at the very bottom of the sea bed. Within the dark confines of the prison are various cells and torture chambers that are used for the prisoners. The torture chambers are used for all sorts of brutal unspeakable acts. Among these include continuous whipping, brutal beating to death, boiling cauldrons for burning and drowning, and spiked pits used for impaling.The prison is carefully monitored all around. There is also what appears to be a medical laboratory stationed somewhere within the great jail, with doctors and a variety of medical equipment for immediate treatments of anyone within the prison, both prisoner and staff alike. However, the doctors seem to have a limit, as they cannot produce a cure for an accumulation of various poisons.The generator room of the entire prison is located on the first floor, before Level 1, and as are the controls to open the Gates of Justice. Levels: A prisoner's assigned level is usually determined by abilities he or she possesses. Along with various cells to keep inmates, each level possesses a unique form of torture. Because of these unspeakable acts being performed, each level is given the title of hell. With each descending level, the tortures worsens. Level 1 Crimson Hell: Crimson Hell is the first level of Impel Down in which prisoners are kept. While the level relatively is used for less wanted criminals, it contains a large forest of red trees. The leaves of the trees, are as sharp as blades, while the grass on the floor, is as spiky as needles. Here, prisoners are forced to run through the forest while being chased by poisonous spiders and guards to experience all the pain from being cut from all directions. As consequence of prisoners being forced through this forest, it is soaked in blood. Deep within the forest is a hole that leads to Level 2. For those who do not wish to live through the pain of being cut any longer, they were given the option of jumping down the hole to Level 2, which contains an even more terrifying hell that nobody is willing to risk. Level 2 Wild Beast Hell: Wild Beast Hell is the second level of Impel Down in which prisoners are kept. It contains various wild beasts of sorts. The beasts kept here include Puzzle Scorpions and Manticores. Puzzle Scorpions are large poisonous insects that can join together to become giant centipedes. Manticores are man-eating human faced lions that will devour everything from their prey including the bones. Their human faces allow them to speak however they can only imitate what they hear like parrots as they do not understand what they are actually speaking. The words they speak are mostly things they heard from the prisoners so some of the things that they say are completely out of place. Among these regular-sized beasts kept here are also two gigantic beasts, the Basilisk and the Sphinx. The Basilisk is a gigantic snake born from a chicken. It is a feathered mutant that possesses both snake and chicken traits. Though formidable, the Basilisk is not the most powerful beast in the level. It is considered to be the "second-in-command". The Sphinx is a gigantic human faced feathered lion. Significantly larger than the Basilisk and much more fearsome than the other beasts, it is considered the "boss" of the level and is charged with guarding the stairway that leads out of the level. It is so fearsome that the prisoners kept in the level, and even the other beasts hide from it. Like the Manticores, it is capable of imitated speech. It randomly says the names of types of noodles and apparently understands the concept of giving thanks before meals. It is such a strong beast that it is capable of breaking the floor beneath it if it hits it enough times. With these various beasts, prisoners kept here are forced to be chased by them through the corridors of the level. Because of the fearsome danger, prisoners often either lose the will to go on, or refuse to escape even when their cells are unlocked. Level 3 Starvation Hell: Starvation Hell is the third level of Impel Down in which prisoners are kept. On this level, prisoners feel the heat rising up from Level 4 and are given precious little food and water to keep them in a near death state. They are reduced to the point where, by merely looking at them, one cannot tell that they were ever once frightening criminals. And while the temperature here is nothing compared to level below, it is intense enough to cause overwhelming dryness, resulting in Level 3's somewhat desert-like terrain. In the middle of the level is a large hole going directly to Level 4 down below. This, combined with a gigantic fan directly above the hole, serves as the main ventilation system to redirect the smoke produced from below. Level 4 can be reached through this hole, however, to travel down it holds a risk of death or scalding by the fire and heat from the floor below. Level 4 Blazing Hell: Blazing Hell is the fourth level of Impel Down in which prisoners are kept. At this level, a pool lies filled with boiling blood heated by a raging fire making it extremely hot. The heat caused by this is so intense that it also heats up the level directly above it. If one tries to jump down to this level from Level 3 using the large hole used for ventilation above but do not land in a safe place, then they will die. Prisoners from other levels are regularly tortured here. The most prevalent form of torture however is being thrown into the gigantic pot of boiling blood in the middle of the level. Level 5 Freezing Hell: Freezing Hell is the fifth level of Impel Down in which prisoners are kept. In stark contrast to the level above it, the entire level here is a giant freezer. The level is so cold that not only do the prisoners kept here either freeze to death or lose pieces of their flesh from severe frostbite, but the food given to them is frozen to the level of being virtually inedible. Along with the severe cold, the level is inhabited by wolves. These wolves roam around the level like the beasts of Level 2, where they were originally stationed at. However, they proved to be too brutal to be in Level 2 as they also hunted the other beasts as well, including the Basilisk and the Sphinx. Along with the bitter cold of the level, there seems to be a occurrence of prisoners mysteriously disappearing as well. Prisoners who are incapable of moving by themselves have been disappearing without a trace. Because of this, the Impel Down staff and the prisoners call this phenomenon, the "daemoning away". Level 6 Eternal Hell: Eternal Hell is the lowest level of Impel Down. It is where prisoners who are insanely powerful, have caused crimes extremely atrocious, and/or whose mere existences have become a major threat are kept. The prisoners on this level have been given either the death penalty or a life sentence. They are basically "erased" from history. Though the prisoners on this floor are either jailed for the rest of their lives or until their execution day arrives, some were only given a temporary sentence for refusing to fightin the Samurai War. Kept alongside the prisoners is the former Chief Guard Shiliew. Because he constantly massacred prisoners, he was deemed to be a menace even within Impel Down, and became too dangerous to be kept anywhere else in the prison. For abusing his powers, he was sentenced to Level 6, until his death sentence. Interestingly enough, even though Level 6 is considered the worst hell, prisoners kept here are never actually tortured. It simply seems to be a holding cell for life or until an execution and prisoners do not have to endure terrible conditions (burning heat, freezing cold, etc.) unlike the higher floors. However the inhabitants of this level may simply be too powerful to be affected by torture. However, solitary imprisonment has been proven to be an effective torture in the real world, where even Shiliew stated that the boredom made him wish for death. Category:Locations